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Meriam Ibrahim gave birth five days early after months shackled to floor
Lawyer tells MailOnline: 'This is good news in what's been a terrible ordeal'
Doctor was sentenced to death for converting from Islam to Christianity
She married Christian U.S. citizen Daniel Wani, who lives in New Hampshire
She told husband she could not 'pretend to be Muslim' just to spare her life

Published: 09:39 GMT, 27 May 2014 | Updated: 11:55 GMT, 27 May 2014

A doctor who is facing execution in Sudan for marrying a Christian gave birth to a baby girl in prison today.

Meriam Ibrahim, who has spent the past four months shackled to the floor in a disease-ridden jail, gave birth five days early.

The baby was born in the hospital wing at Omdurman Federal Women’s Prison in North Khartoum and is said to be healthy.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, her lawyer Mohaned Mustafa Elnour said: 'This is some good news in what has been a terrible ordeal for Meriam.

'I am planning to visit her with her husband Daniel later today. I think they are going to call the baby Maya.’

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Meriam Ibrahim has given birth in a Sudanese jail after being handed the death sentence because a court did not recognise her marriage to Christian Daniel Wani, a U.S. citizen, who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire

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Holding out hope: Daniel Wani outside his home in Khartoum, Sudan, ash he awaits the fate of his wife who has been held in shackles in prison with their toddler son Martin next to her

Meriam, 27, was sentenced to death by hanging earlier this month after being found guilty of converting from Islam to Christianity and marrying a Christian man, U.S. citizen Daniel Wani, who lives in Manchester, New Hampshire.
She will receive 100 lashes before she is executed - sometime in the next two years.
Before the birth, Meriam made the defiant claim that she would rather die than give up her faith.

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In a heart-wrenching conversation with her husband during a rare prison visit, Meriam told him: 'If they want to execute me then they should go ahead and do it because I’m not going to change my faith.’
An Islamic Sharia judge said she could be spared the death penalty if she publicly renounced her faith and becomes a Muslim once more.
Meriam insists she has always been a Christian and told her husband she could not 'pretend to be a Muslim' just to spare her life.